Kenneth S. Stern
Encyclopedia
Kenneth S. Stern is a defense attorney and an author. He is director on antisemitism, hate studies
and extremism for the American Jewish Committee
. In 2000, Stern was a special advisor to the defense in the David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt trial.
, and his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law
.
on campus, hate speech
on talk radio
and the Internet. He is a frequent guest on national television and talk radio shows, including Face the Nation
, Crossfire
, Nightline, Dateline
, Good Morning America
, CBS Evening News
, and National Public Radio. His report Militias: A Growing Danger, issued two weeks before the Oklahoma City bombing
, predicted such attacks on the US government. And his book about the militias, A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (1996) was nominated for the National Book Award.
In 2001 he was an official member of the United States delegation to the Stockholm
International Forum on Combating Intolerance. Stern was also a key drafter of a "working definition" of antisemitism, which has been adopted, starting in January 2005, by various international bodies tasked with monitoring antisemitism.
Before coming to AJC in 1989, Stern was managing partner of the Oregon law firm Rose and Stern. Stern was trial and appellate counsel for American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks, and argued on his behalf before the United States Supreme Court in U.S. v. Loud Hawk et al. Among his other notable cases was his representation of Portland's homeless community in a federal lawsuit against an anti-camping ordinance, and as co-counsel in a defamation suit against Patricia Hearst, representing Jack and Micki Scott. His book about the Dennis Banks case, Loud Hawk: The United States vs. the American Indian Movement (1994), won the Gustave Myers Center Award as outstanding book on human rights.
Stern's other books are Holocaust Denial (1993) and Antisemitism Today (2006).
Stern is also active in the effort to establish an interdisciplinary academic field of Hate Studies. He serves on the board of the Institute for Hate Studies as well as on the editorial board of the Journal of Hate Studies. A condensed version of his keynote speech at the First Conference to Establish the Academic Field of Hate Studies is at http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/Hate_matters.pdf.
In an open letter, coauthored with Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, Stern wrote that some of the complaints about anti-Semitism on campus under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "simply seek to silence anti-Israel discourse and speakers. This approach is not only unwarranted under Title VI, it is dangerous.” Stern's letter was disavowed by AJC executive director David Harris, who called the letter “ill-advised.”
Articles and other publication
Hate studies
Hate Studies is an interdisciplinary curriculum being developed by a consortium of academics, scholars, human rights groups, and others.The process grew out of conversations sparked by the Gonzaga University Institute for Action against Hate which held a Conference to Establish the Field of Hate...
and extremism for the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
. In 2000, Stern was a special advisor to the defense in the David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt trial.
Education
Stern earned his A.B. at Bard CollegeBard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
, and his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law
Willamette University College of Law
Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States...
.
Career
Stern has testified before US Congress; in 1997 he served as an invited presenter at the White House Conference on Hate Crimes. He analyzed the militia movement, bigotryBigotry
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
on campus, hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
on talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
and the Internet. He is a frequent guest on national television and talk radio shows, including Face the Nation
Face the Nation
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
, Crossfire
Crossfire
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
, Nightline, Dateline
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
, and National Public Radio. His report Militias: A Growing Danger, issued two weeks before the Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
, predicted such attacks on the US government. And his book about the militias, A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (1996) was nominated for the National Book Award.
In 2001 he was an official member of the United States delegation to the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
International Forum on Combating Intolerance. Stern was also a key drafter of a "working definition" of antisemitism, which has been adopted, starting in January 2005, by various international bodies tasked with monitoring antisemitism.
Before coming to AJC in 1989, Stern was managing partner of the Oregon law firm Rose and Stern. Stern was trial and appellate counsel for American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks, and argued on his behalf before the United States Supreme Court in U.S. v. Loud Hawk et al. Among his other notable cases was his representation of Portland's homeless community in a federal lawsuit against an anti-camping ordinance, and as co-counsel in a defamation suit against Patricia Hearst, representing Jack and Micki Scott. His book about the Dennis Banks case, Loud Hawk: The United States vs. the American Indian Movement (1994), won the Gustave Myers Center Award as outstanding book on human rights.
Stern's other books are Holocaust Denial (1993) and Antisemitism Today (2006).
Stern is also active in the effort to establish an interdisciplinary academic field of Hate Studies. He serves on the board of the Institute for Hate Studies as well as on the editorial board of the Journal of Hate Studies. A condensed version of his keynote speech at the First Conference to Establish the Academic Field of Hate Studies is at http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/Hate_matters.pdf.
Views
In his article Holocaust education alone won't stop hate, Stern proposes ways to combat persisting hatred of Jews:"Human rights organizations must be challenged when they do not sufficiently assert that freedom from anti-Semitism is a human right.
Governments must be engaged to ensure that they investigate and prosecute anti-Semitic hate crimes fully.
Monitoring groups must catalog not only the old-fashioned forms of religious and racial anti-Semitism, but also the more contemporary forms that treat the Jewish state in the same bigoted manner that traditional anti-Semitism regards the individual Jew. Campus administrations need to uphold the highest academic standards and make certain that while heated debate is encouraged, intimidation is prohibited."
In an open letter, coauthored with Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, Stern wrote that some of the complaints about anti-Semitism on campus under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "simply seek to silence anti-Israel discourse and speakers. This approach is not only unwarranted under Title VI, it is dangerous.” Stern's letter was disavowed by AJC executive director David Harris, who called the letter “ill-advised.”
Publications
Books- Holocaust Denial (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1993) ISBN 9780874951028
- Loud Hawk: The United States Versus the American Indian Movement (1994) University of Oklahoma Press, 2002: ISBN 0806134399
- The Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (Simon & Schuster, 1996) (University of Oklahoma Press, 1997: ISBN 0806129263)
- Antisemitism Today: How It Is the Same, How It Is Different and How to Fight It (American Jewish Committee, 2006): ISBN 9780874951400
Articles and other publication
- Skinheads: Who They Are and What to Do When They Come to Town (The American Jewish Committee, 1990)
- Anti-Zionism, the Sophisticated Anti-Semitism (AJC, 1990).
- Bigotry on Campus: A Planned Response', 1990 http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/BigotryOnCampus.pdf
- Dr. Jeffries and the anti-Semitic branch of the Afrocentrism movement, 1991
- David Duke: A Nazi in politics, 1991
- Hate on talk radio, 1991
- Politics and bigotry, 1992
- Farrakhan and Jews in the 1990s (AJC, 1992, 1994).
- Crown Heights: A case study in anti-Semitism and community relations, 1992
- Demjanjuk: An analysis of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Demjanjuk v. Petrovsky, et al., 1993
- Liberators: A background report, 1993
- Militias, a growing danger (An American Jewish Committee background report, 1995)
- The McVeigh trial 1997
- Militias and the religious right Freedom Writer, October 1996. (Institute for First Amendment Studies, 1998)
- Hate and the Internet (AJC)
- Lying About the Holocaust (SLPC Intelligence Report, Fall 2001)
- Why Campus Anti-Israel Activity Flunks Bigotry 101 http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/Bigotry_101.pdf
- Getting to the root of hate in a challenging world Seattle Times. March 16, 2004
- The Minister For Hate (The Nation of IslamNation of IslamThe Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
and Louis FarrakhanLouis FarrakhanLouis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
). Published in J.O.I.N. Australia/Israel Review, 1998. Also at http://www.aijac.org.au/review/1998/231/noi1.html - Holocaust education alone won't stop hate. Jewish SF. January 26, 2007. Also at http://www.juf.org/news_public_affairs/article.asp?key=7753, http://www.jstandard.com/articles/2175/1/Teaching-the-Holocaust-is-important,-but-it-won%92t-stop-anti-Semitism
- About Monitoring and Law Enforcement, Not Education (jewishexponent.com) February 1, 2007
- Antisemitism Today: How It Is the Same, How It is Different, and How to Fight It"
- Anti-Semitism Matters http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/AntisemitismMattersMay2004.pdf
- Hate Matters' http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/Hate_matters.pdf
- The Dangerous "A" Words' http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=1531911&ct=2558029
- Don't Avoid Conflicts, Mine Them. http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/Hate_matters.pdf
External links
- Truth Is Winner in Holocaust Denier's Libel Defeat Newsday, Apr. 13, 2000, p. A54. (nizkor.org)
- Is Uncle Sam coddling the Kooks? By Jonathan Broder (Salon.com)
- The County Supremacy and Militia Movements: Federalism as an Issue on the Radical Right by William Chaloupka (University of Montana)
- Cause for Concern: Hate Crimes in America. Reports and Curricula (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights/Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund)